2.03 Perspectives on Personality Flashcards
Behaviorist
define personality as a set of learned responses
a habit
a well-learned response that has become automatic
social cognitive theorists
emphasize the importance of other’s behaviors and one’s own expectations
social cognitive
unlike traditional behaviorism, includes social and mental processes and their influence on behavior (includes Albert Bandura’s ideas of reciprocal determinism)
Reciprocal determinism
explanation of how environment, personal characteristics, and behavior interact to determine future behavio
Albert Bandura
Reciprocal Determinism
self-efficacy
characteristic in which a person perceives a behavior as more or less effective based on previous experiences
Julian Rotter
social learning theory
Thorndike’s law of effect
people are motivated to seek reinforcement and avoid punishment
Social learning theory
learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context
locus of control - internal
people assume that their own actions and decisions directly affect the consequences they experience
locus of control - external
people who assume that their lives are controlled by others, luck, or fate. This belief can lead to learned helplessness or depression
humanistic
focuses on those aspects of personality that make people unique
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
Humanistic
Self-Actualization
striving to fulfill innate capabilities
Self-Concept
image of oneself that develops from interactions with significant people in one’s life (includes real self and ideal self)
real self
a person’s actual perception of traits and abilities
ideal self
perception of what a person would like to be or thinks he or she should be
Carl Rogers
Ideal self and real self
positive regard
warmth, affection, love, and respect that come from significant others in one’s life
conditional postive regard
positive regard only given when the person is doing what the providers wish
unconditional positive regard
positive regard that is given without conditions or strings attached
current thoughts of humanistic perspective
picture is a little too rosy, very difficult to test scientifically, and connection to “positive psychology”
trait
a consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling, or behavior
trait theories
characteristics that make up human personality in order to predict future behaviors
Gorden Allport and Raymond Cattell
trait theories
surface traits
can be seen by other people in the outward action of a person
source traits
more basic traits forming core of personality
Big Five Theory
Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism
McCrae and Costa
Big Five
Openness
willingness to try new things and be open to new experiences
conscientousness
the care a person gives to organization and thoughtfulness of others
extraversion
one’s need to be around other people; introversion and extroversion
agreeableness
the emotional style of a person
neuroticism
degree of emotional stability or instability
behavioral genetics
the study of heredity and personality
study of twins and adopted children OR “Jim Twin” Study
behavioral genetics
Geert Hofstede
cultural personality
Four basic dimensions of cultural personality
individualism/collectivism, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and uncertainty avoidance
individualism vs. collectivism
individualistic cultures tend to have loose ties between individuals, look after themselves and immediate family only. collectivistic cultures include people who are deeply tied into very strong in-groups, extended families
power distance
refers to the degree to which the less powerful members of a culture accept and even expect that the power within the culture is held in the hands of a select few, rather than being more evenly distributed
masculinity vs. femininity
referring to how a culture distributes the roles played by men and women within a culture. Masculine cultures are assertive and competitive, and feminine cultures are modest and caring
uncertainty avoidance
some cultures are more tolerant of uncertainty and unstructured situations. Cultures who do not tolerate uncertainty and lack of structure tend to have strict rules and laws
